Tuesday, September 17, 2013

A toe in the water

Vicarious swim buddy* Anna and I kicked around an idea, destination unknown.

Its genesis — maybe a t-shirt image for an ad hoc committee of women uniting soon for a swim.

But maybe it's something else, we yakked. Something more.

So mermaid right became merman (not Ethel, but Poseidon or Pontos or u-pick the deity) and mermaid left is Ceto or naiad (or Nyad) or whomever, to cater to wider interests.

Maybe it's more than that, even, we bantered. A group identity for a yet-undetermined group. Most sovereign states claim their spaces before sending someone off to knit the flag. It's refreshing once in a while to get it all backward.

Still working on a name to fit the art … aquae, in the loosest possible interpretation of Latin, "waters," to embrace swimmers of the sea, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, catfish ponds and cement ponds. Also lochs, puddles, inlets, marinas, straits and narrows. Everybody, in other words, into the pool!

As solitary and lonely an endeavor as it is — water enveloping, sloshing, heaving, splashing in your ears, echoing your heartbeat — swimmers long for community.

Plus, a ligature!

Though I took it as an exercise to see how quickly head and hand and heart could take a concept to finish, this has gone through several iterations, including color. This is the iteration that has grown on me.

*so named by swimmers from around the globe in an established identity, DYST?, who swim with each other vicariously.

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